TOMS: GET OUT AND PLAY

Follow The Frog

Do What You Can't

In the latest film from Red Bull Music Academy, we turn our attention to DFA: the iconic NYC record label that got the indie kids to dance. Narrated by Marc Maron, it features music and appearances from James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Holy Ghost!, The Juan MacLean, Shit Robot, Sinkane, YACHT and many more!

Directed by Max Joseph

Edited by Jeff Conrad

Produced by Aaron Weber

Short Films

Directed by

Edited by

DICKS: Do you need to be one to be a successful leader?

Does being a DICK, prick, asshole, or bitch make you a more effective leader? Of course I'd like to think no, but lately I'm not so sure, so I decided to make a movie about it. And it's finally up on Facebook! This is the first video in a new series I am doing. Follow me on Vero to see the rest: http://get.vero.co/maxjosephxvero. Next one comes out tomorrow!

ps if you want to discuss the themes or ideas in this follow me on Vero. Much more likely to see and respond there.

Short Films

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Commercials

Viral

The Chain of Good

Features

Directed by

We Are Your Friends

We Are Your Friends is my first feature film. I co-wrote it with the amazing Meaghan Oppenheimer, directed it, gave birth to it, and am super proud of it.

"The Efron factor, and the film's confident sense of style, make We are Your Friends, directed by Max Joseph, co-host and cameraman for the Catfish TV series, a more than interesting late-August curio; a sad, millennial meditation on ambition and aimlessness."

"While The Social Network turned the legend of Facebook into a classical tale of hubris and hinted-at hamartia, We Are Your Friends takes a traditional trade movie--the Cocktails, the Quicksilvers, the Boiler Rooms--and infuses it with enough youthful, entrancing chiaroscuro to make it feel original, and vital. I didn't just want to dance at the end of We Are Your Friends, I wanted to say "Amen."

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:

"Fast, fun, and feel good."

"We Are Your Friends is predictable, sometimes tacky, but the energy is unflagging, the eye candy plentiful and writer-director Max Joseph (making his feature debut after hosting MTV’s Catfish) brings sincerity and a skillfully modulated sweetness to the material. Don’t be shocked if the movie steamrolls past your defenses--"

"[Joseph] maintains an appealing lightness of touch and tone when it comes to his themes and characters; he never bludgeons us with the story’s subtext of economic anxiety, and even an unnecessary melodramatic twist in the final stretch is handled delicately."

"We Are Your Friends is full of such moments that set you up for an epic cringe only to win you over with good-natured bravado; the intersection of brashness and earnestness is the movie’s sweet spot."

"We Are Your Friends is that increasingly rare thing: a genuine feel-good movie."

THE NEW YORK POST:

3/4 Stars

"The film is a debut narrative effort from writer-director Max Joseph, whose credits include MTV’s “Catfish” and TV commercials. Like many small-screen directors, Joseph knows how to cut and slam — a dance/love scene in Las Vegas shimmers and sparkles — but he also knows when to play it slow, when to be still. A scene in which Cole, whose phone dies when he’s jogging, learns to listen to the San Fernando Valley is beautifully done, and it ties into a vital tip from James about where art comes from. You imitate the masters until you know their every trick — then stop imitating and create.

Joseph also coaxes superb work out of all three leads: Efron, who has rarely before been accused of being interesting, this time sagely underplays his role."

BUZZFEED:

"We Are Your Friendshas an emotional throughline and, perhaps more importantly, a sense of self-awareness that makes the movie a pleasant surprise."

"We Are Your Friendsfeels very much of its time, a film for and about a certain kind of millennial, which is a testament to Joseph’s ability to integrate himself into the worlds he covers, even though he might otherwise exist on the fringes."

"Although Joseph has spent plenty of time among young people, he has just the right level of detachment, allowing for the self-awareness that makes his film a success."

"We Are Your Friendshas more grandeur than you’d expect for a movie about a bunch of Valley bros trying to get laid and get famous."

"Like most of We Are Your Friends, the scene in which Efron manfully brushes away tears while yelling, “Are we ever gonna be better than this?” into a microphone to the bouncing crowd should be ridiculous. Instead, it works almost magically well — broetry in motion. Its poignance comes from the film’s desire to treat the aspirations and emotions of its tender-hearted, kinda dim hero seriously while maintaining enough distance to feel wiser and more mature than he is."

TIME OUT:

4/5 Stars

"We Are Your Friendsdoesn’t rewrite the tune on movies about sexy young musicians who learn “to thine own self be true,” but it remixes it with style. Thumping with high-octane energy from start to finish, the film grabs hold of your body to get you out of your mind."

ASSOCIATED PRESS:

"Part electronic dance music tutorial and part love letter to Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, "We Are Your Friends" is a surprisingly accessible and sweet story of a group of friends standing on the cusp of adulthood with big ambition and little direction."

"Regardless of your taste for pulsing electronic music or actor Zac Efron, both are undeniably appealing in this feature debut from director and co-writer Max Joseph. Though the plot may be predictable, Joseph energizes his coming-of-age musical romance with creative animation, explosive dance scenes and a vibrant soundtrack that's like an entree to the EDM genre. "

"Director Joseph (best known as a host and producer of the MTV series "Catfish") captures the vital energy and druggie haze of EDM parties, providing a peek into a world not often seen on the big screen. He shoots the wide suburban streets of the sun-baked Valley in such a way that the images almost look like they're from another time."

VULTURE:

"We Are Your Friends Works. I Can’t Believe It, Either."

"God help me, I liked the Zac Efron DJ Movie."

"By the end, when our hero finally cuts loose, the whole movie comes together. I couldn’t help but smile."